Homebrew system thread II, part 2

[Simon_Jester]

Larric takes a look at Sir Alfred's list and offers to lend a hand with that message to Lillehammer- he has, if nothing else, the very neat, yet quick handwriting of a man who spent seven years repairing books in a world where printing presses haven't been invented yet and everything has to be copied out by hand.

What does he want done?

With that out of the way, Larric asks Sir Alfred: "While we're in Qulan town- I went back to the castle, it looks like no one else is sleeping where we were last time. But if we're to get anything done in the castle, we need friends, and we need to know what's happening. Who shall we talk to?

Larric thinks of speaking to Mother (Pola?), the priestess of Chelet who he encountered on the day of the murder. She will probably have been outside the worst of the politicking, still be in a position to speak relatively freely, and hopefully not have any agendas that will get us roped into a disaster too fast. This is mostly just to get a broad perspective on what's going on, how Tamarin in particular is doing and what might have happened to her, and so on.

Alfred, meanwhile, may want to talk to someone else. His cousin is still in the middle of the accusations we left him in- hopefully going to be sorted out and his name cleared, but that's an interest of Alfred's. Dame Tamarin helped us quite a lot before, has just been attacked and beaten in the streets after putting up a fight- is she in shape to talk to people from her bedside, or for that matter up and about after this time? The verderer, Sir Detrick Lautern, sent us on a couple of dangerous jobs, which we did for him, but then we went and brought a mess back into his lap and got some of his soldiers killed, so his reaction could be anything from "alas, fortunes of war" to "you bastard you" and trying to gouge us for money like the constable did.

[Kaelan]

Dirts trying not to give too much away (most likely without much luck), and in return gauge their reaction and mood with respect to the party. In particular Alfred.

Back with the party "we travel far, or stay here for some time. Dirt need to plant garden and want to pick good place close to our home." Dirt's still not entirely sure where the group operates from as we have yet to spend a long period of time in any location.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Things to find out- Larric manages to get in to see Tamarin. She's being put up by Pola while she mends; was badly beaten, mostly around the torso though, has one arm in a sling, and she is conscious, although troubled. Picture everything she says broken up by long pauses and occasionally coughing blood into a bucket.

'I kept thinking, asking questions. Trying to fathom it out. Feel my way around the court, see who was really against whom. It looks as if- you know the constable's brother was arrested? By the high sherriff. The sherriff had to sell some of his domains to the church of Valdemiron to get the money to pay his men, because the Treasurer is refusing to do so. It looks like two sides are starting to come together, the constable, the treasurer and some of the sherriff's men on one side, along with most of the baron's family. The verderer and most of the people's gods are on the other side. The court sorceress and the guild are the most powerful pieces not committed.'

'What happened- four men and one standing in shadow directing them, I- they weren't very good, but from the way they flourished and posed they thought they were. One of them tried to just push my blade aside and treat me like a little girl- I sliced his stomach open.
They were wearing cloaks and hoods, looked like foresters which means they weren't of course, but they were bouncing about, and I was thinking I might manage to beat them off and escape with my life, when I caught one of them in the throat, and saw his face- it was my own blood, well almost, my brother in law.
I froze, I couldn't understand why, I just stood there not believing- then they basically set about me. I think the main reason they didn't kill me is that I'd left two of them too badly hurt, they didn't have time, they needed to get help for them- I don't understand at all why, why him? Inheritance?
The fifth one, waiting- didn't do anything, but there were shouts and clangs and screams, and no-one came; a cone of silence, a not your problem, some magic at work?'


If the verderer's men are anything to go by, the party does have some goodwill in that direction- although they along with everyone else think Alfred was a fool, Dirt gets an earful of that- honour and duty are all very well, and things would probably be a lot worse without them, but you can't afford to go round assuming everyone is. Really. Next time, hit him with something, yes?

[Panzersharkcat]

He mutters to himself, which nobody can hear, "The gods themselves rain shit on us." He says to Larric, "First in Lillehammer's business is to ensure that the civilians of de Berrey's camp are well and inform them of his death. They will be relieved to know. Second is to have the peasants turn the boy de Berrey over to us. He will be safer there. Third is to ensure the peace with the men of the woods and to have de Berrey's collaborator among the peasants executed, if he has not been so already. I will allow the peasantry the privilege of deciding the method of execution. That should cover law and order in the land until I return. Now first business in Qulan, after sale of what little property Captain de Berrey has, is to find Rohal. I find his continued absence to be of much concern."

(OOC: For shaving, razors existed but they blunted fairly easily. There are also pumice stones but that may be a woman's thing. History of Shaving.)

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

The reason Rohal isn't around much isn't so much an out of character reason as an out of contact reason; Feralgnoll is still busy with real world responsibilities, presumably, and hasn't been seen on the board in months. He'd be more than welcome back any time he has time for it, but until then I don't want to do too much with the character- it's just something I have scruples about, I don't like running someone else's character remotely.

Where he has actually been is being kept away from anyone who might recognise him as a werewolf, while Lisanna tries out a couple of ideas to help, give him more control over it and make it less obvious, that sort of thing.

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: In that case, he'll ask Lisanna if he sees her just to get that out of the way.)

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

Things to find out- Larric manages to get in to see Tamarin. She's being put up by Pola while she mends; was badly beaten, mostly around the torso though, has one arm in a sling, and she is conscious, although troubled. Picture everything she says broken up by long pauses and occasionally coughing blood into a bucket.

Yep. Sat there, seen that, though modern medical equipment made it a bit more hygienic for my brother.

(He's OK now, just had an accident back a while ago).

IC:

He mutters to himself, which nobody can hear, "The gods themselves rain shit on us." He says to Larric, "First in Lillehammer's business is to ensure that the civilians of de Berrey's camp are well and inform them of his death. They will be relieved to know. Second is to have the peasants turn the boy de Berrey over to us. He will be safer there. Third is to ensure the peace with the men of the woods and to have de Berrey's collaborator among the peasants executed, if he has not been so already. I will allow the peasantry the privilege of deciding the method of execution. That should cover law and order in the land until I return. Now first business in Qulan, after sale of what little property Captain de Berrey has, is to find Rohal. I find his continued absence to be of much concern."

Larric mulls that over. He knows peasants, as something other than blurry, shout-at-able people. Not so sure Alfred does.

"Some of that might be hard to get people to go along with right away... and, ah, executions?" He looks uncomfortable. "Who are you planning to kill, exactly? What did he do? Maybe for now, we'd do best to hit one and three and leave two and four for later. Tell the people the good news, make sure to tell the yeomanry you don't plan to stomp all over them- after the year they've had, they'd fight if they thought you were going to try. Moving young master de Berrey, and deciding people need killing, those are better done in person, I'd say."

[seriously, I don't think we ever got much specific evidence that anyone had Quislinged themselves that much with the deserters, that we could obviously identify them as collaborators without even sticking around to hold an investigation. Am I forgetting something?]

Larric holds off on drafting the note until he's got a clear picture from Alfred on that. The writing of the note, chronologically, takes place before he speaks to Tamarin, but since it's unlikely to be interrupted by continuity-changing events, maybe we can think about events in two timeframes at once to save OOC play time.
______________________

[timejump]

Larric asks Tamarin a few very basic questions about the place the shadowy man was standing in- next to a building, in an alley, what? He expresses solidarity with her, the verderer, and wishes her very well. Then he asks Mother Pola about the location of the attack, so that he can walk there himself. Troubled, he wonders [presumably this happens in the next room or two over], "why would her husband's brother be trying to kill her? The inheritance?"


After that, he travels over there and tries to find the spot in question. He's been very frustrated that violent crimes are happening around him, a conscience-shocker before he left Qulan and one against a friend now that he's come back, and that there's no target: no one knows who the enemy is.

The man was in shadow which suggests it was at least a little out of the way. He sketches an array of runes- stick in mud, charcoal on wall perhaps- to bolster Insight: probe, reveal, look for any evidence or traces of magical style or impressions left behind. He does this with something like his usual lab-technician methods: slow, bit by bit, cautious and tracking down minor hints and shades of maybe-meaning as best he can. He thinks about the very diverse styles of magic he's seen in the past week, the powerful elf-spells, the Countess, the ancient magics of the fortress and the mountain-barrow, and the more human-sized spells of Strongarm and Lisanna and Aburon. Any given wizard who would have been involved in this, he reasons, was probably more 'conventional' than any of those, except maybe Lisanna. Maybe with the supreme conventionality of the teaching circle showing in some of the details, or something else entirely- he keeps an open mind.

When he's done and has examined the area and immediate position of the shadowy man, done it as carefully and meticulously as he can given the time and available distractions, he'll rub out the runes (if they aren't expended) and move along.

...

Also, another point Larric remembers- Sir Lautern was meaning to mobilize a force of troops to head south and protect against Carfax's raids. But that probably didn't happen in the chaos following our arrival. Larric's still concerned about that, but [rolls 6 on d20 against his very limited Politics] suspects that having the baron come back, in damaged political shape with so few of his people surviving the experience and remembering what happened, might throw things into enough chaos to keep their minds oriented on internal problems down there.

As he moves about the town, he keeps an ear cocked for people who have been travelling recently, come into town in the past day or two. Does anyone in or around Qulan know if Baron Kardren got out of the First Age fortress alive? It's been at least three days, so rumors and information both will be moving around. Larric is curious.

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: Well, we could ask the men of the woods but that can come later.)

"Fair point. Stick to items one and three then." He scratches his chin.

[Simon_Jester]

Larric moves a good distance away and reaches for his slatebook, here to use it as a writing surface. He winces remembering his blown-up wax tablet, and reminds himself to buy a new one, using some of the profits from the sold-off finery and other goods taken out of the First Age fortress.

He sits down, and... [Charm-Persuasion, assists from Composition, possibly Human Perception, and possibly Oratory and/or Politics]

...Lays out a letter to the people of the de Berrey lands. Prose is rather wordy and windy, sounds like something a noble would write really- Larric's writing style for long messages is rather different than his spoken style; I haven't time to compose the letter myself right now. Basically, rejoice, de Berrey is dead and most of his men killed off or scattered, Sir Alfred's men will help you drive off any who try to come slinking back (he checks that with Alfred). He reassures the yeomen and peasants that their traditional rights will be most carefully respected and honored, and that Sir Alfred's real goal is to protect the land and make sure it doesn't fall into chaos with all the troubles around.

[Fiji_Fury]

Acknowledging the concerns of Alfred and Larric, but neither hearing a way he can directly assist, nor yet seeing one, Dale begs leave and then heads for the Temple of Valdemiron. At the temple, he asks after Archpriest Dor'Vaht and requests an immediate audience. Dale is normally more reserved and circumspect (he thinks), but time is short and the problems are stacking up rather too quickly. He will use his status as a Priest of D'nor to ply insistence upon any functionaries who stand between him and the Archpriest.

The state of the entire city and castle are in flux... Dale's head aches trying to sort through the various strands of conflict and tension. Perhaps this is what Valdemiron's servants feel like trying to deal with all the issues but being masters of truly none of them. Some sympathy wells within Dale's heart. Not much mind you, but some. There are too many unanswered questions and troubling developments to be addressed. Dale determines that his personal issues and baggage are secondary to the needs of D'nor; specifically the need to see the spirits of the dead pass to the next life. What with all the other problems facing Qulan, an undead epidemic or mass hauntings could do nothing but further compound an already raw situation.

[Simon_Jester]

P.S.

In a more direct 'Scribe' role, Larric takes down a shorter, more businesslike letter to be sent directly to Alfred's family, saying "hey, we need XYZ to make this work, can you do that? Alfred's personal familiarity with the family's resources would help there.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

No direct evidence that anyone turned traitor as such, but undoubtedly many if not all tried to survive and that would have involved some level of compromise; that much is really unavoidable. Anyone who actually turned on their own community and started playing toady and informer, you might not need much help in dealing with them- lynch law would probably suffice, the community taking care of it's own.

There might be a small unmarked grassy mound and nobody saying much about it when you get back, and someone they don't mention any more. Might be best to prevent that, but certainly a show trial would be going too far the other way. Alfred's mother is probably the best person to leave the responsibility with- may have been busy already.


Dale finds the temple of Valdemiron without too much trouble, but as he is walking up to the obviously very recently reconstructed building the odd notion comes to him, if he knew exactly what was going on he wouldn't be doing this. Valdemiron is very much the authoritarian, most of his powers have to do with controlling and compelling obedience rather than, for instance, actually earning authority. The priests tend to follow the mould, reserved and circumspect is not what they do. Being pushy works quite well, up to a point- up until Dale collides head on with one of the senior priests. Some talking around the issue, but the core of it-

'The archpriest is busy, he's in a meeting. Why should- oh, you are, are you? Well, steps had to be taken without professional guidance, urgent solutions were necessary. Paths of lesser evil were found. Perhaps mistakes were made. There are few priests to behad- do you feel up to the task of taking charge of the reconstruction of your temple? I'll tell the work crews to listen to you. Will you take charge of that?'

Dale will have the unpleasant feeling that this offer has a very large string tied to the back of it- but what does he actually say?


Shame he's not there to help when Larric goes to see the place where Tamarin was attacked, because there's an odd tang in the air- something was used, some kind of hiding, baffling- probably- but nothing he can sense directly. Which eliminates the obvious- air magic to still the air and leave a cone of silence. He'd probably recognise that, if it had been done that way. So it was some other method, some other magic.

What else are Larric and Dale doing?

[Fiji_Fury]

Sensing a string attached to the offer of being in charge and realizing in any event that such duty would "trap" him in Qulan, Dale responds.

"I am a Death Warden of D'nor. My intent was to bring an authority within Valdemiron's Temple a warning" here Dale nods respectfully to the Priest he is speaking with. "There are crypts beneath the old temple and the new temple is being built in such a way that those crypts are more difficult to access and observe. The Priests of D'nor reserve such crypts for those bodies and spirits which are least likely to stay at rest. They must be watched and guarded carefully. If anything were to return from those crypts that was not living, I or one like me would be called upon to destroy it. If the construction and the worksite is not minded with caution, those crypts could be disturbed and the results would be unfortunate. If the dead are disturbed, they are not always maliciuos, but anything coming from those crypts will almost certainly be malevolent and embittered against the living."

"My secondary purpose is to ask what Valdemiron's servants know about what happened to D'nor's servants here in Qulan. I can find no others and their work, as you know, needs tending, including the temple. I am committed to gathering D'nor's servants and returning them to their duties here. Any information your order can provide would both be appreciated and speed my work, therefore reducing the strain upon your priests, whom I have witnessed holding the line by trying to fulfill the duties of those absent servants of my Order."

Dale is geniunely offering a warning and seeking information, but is somewhat suspicious. If one god's servants decided that another god's servants were unnecessary... it might look something like what Dale has seen. If that is the case, then these Priests of Valdemiron have been willing to displace the servants of D'nor. That could be both very dangerous and horrifically political. Dale hopes this is not the case, but is becoming worried.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

'Oh.' He says, thinking hard for a second, then recovers. 'Don't you see that that is the best possible solution? Who else would be able to do a better job than you? You're ideal for it.'

There is still a slight sound of con- manship under there, only reinforced by his answer to the next question. 'There was...what I can only describe as a spiritual catastrophe. The maniacs, the Striking Phoenix, wanted to spread chaos ahead of themselves- not content with butchery, terror and plagues of- they made a special target of the keepers of the dead, breaking wards, summoning and crippling or destroying guardian spirits. Mere bloodshed and slaughter of the living wan't enough for them. Some may have scattered, lost in the wilderness- but you're here. What do you say?'


Where Dale would know this from is debatable, but some of the party had word from the very source, the commander of the Striking Phoenix, that dirty tricks like that to spread fear and confusion had been resorted to in the very first stage of the campaign;
but quickly abandoned as prejudicial if not counterproductive, less to the mission than to everything else they wanted to try out. By the time they got to Auvaine, there was much more effort put into trying to get the locals to stand and fight. Subversion and sabotage like that was a very minor factor.

Which raises the question of what he is hiding- and what will happen if Dale asks too insistently. Considering how badly the deputy high priest reacted to the 'warning'- eyes narrowed, glance to the temple guard, considering zap- they may not be that far off resorting to an ugly solution themselves. Dale's words?

[Simon_Jester]

Shame he's not there to help when Larric goes to see the place where Tamarin was attacked, because there's an odd tang in the air- something was used, some kind of hiding, baffling- probably- but nothing he can sense directly. Which eliminates the obvious- air magic to still the air and leave a cone of silence. He'd probably recognise that, if it had been done that way. So it was some other method, some other magic.

What else are Larric and Dale doing?

Larric notes the definite cone-of-silence magic, and carefully dismantles his own runic sensors to leave as few countervailing traces as possible in case he or someone else comes back later. He knows or assumes Alfred is busy with his own affairs (what, exactly, I'm not sure; we don't have anything in Alfred's itinerary past the letter-writing, do we?). Part of him would very much like to sit down, but instead he tries something- back to the waterfront, there to pick up a few of the 'sellable' items from the First Age Fortress he picked up, and to sell them. Some of that cutlery and clothes.

He'll have to work out something reasonable to cache the money; right now he's hoping to liquidate things a bit because traveling money has to be on the short side.

[Fiji_Fury]

"Thank you for the trust you place in me," Dale begins. "The respect of you and your order has value I cannot properly express. I am confident that you can use what I have told you to the benefit of all, until such time as I have returned with others of D'nor's servants. Those scattered by the Striking Phoenix need to return and I will bring them. At that time my order can graciously resume oversight of the crypts and reconstruction on our temple site. In the meantime, it is essential that I reconstitute D'nor's servants so they can resume their work. My skills lend me strongly to field duty anyway and while circustances may demand different of me, my first steps must be to bring back other servants of D'nor so that the dead can be fully laid to rest here within Qulan."

Dale offers this without traces of irony or suspicion, but his internal warning systems are going hay-wire. Something is certainly amiss. Dale needs to know more from other eyes and ears and wants to address the problems only once he is more certain of what they are, and with more followers of D'nor at his side. His own lost and twisted memories aren't doing him any favours under the current circumstances (not that they really have yet anyway).

[Panzersharkcat]

(OOC: Oh, right. Oops.)

In the meantime, Alfred is taking the loot to the marketplace so he might end up in the same place as Larric.

[Simon_Jester]

The alchemist runs into Sir Alfred in the process of being skinned alive by people with higher Bargain scores, then- and attempts to lend a hand! Much as he knows the knight would help Larric, if he were suddenly threatened by things in need of hitting with a hammer or an army.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Some bargaining and haggling duly occurs. Several expensive things were brought back- some of the wireframe work from the underground tower, didn't you keep that? The shields, anyway. They're more than just valuable, you might be best off trying to sell them at auction; finding someone or some organisation with the disposable cash to actually pay a fair price for them may be the hardest part- unless that would be finding someone sufficiently rich and who can also be trusted with them.

Unfortunately this gets to politics again, money and power tending to be closely correlated. On the face of it, only the officers of court and the temples could actually pay you what the more special artifacts are worth, and securing them from thieves may be worth being concerned about.

The less esoteric items can find a buyer, or several, and Alfred, Larric and Dirt (who I'm presuming is there) can watch each other's backs because the better the day goes, the more attention you draw; the more useful and less toxic alchemical ingredients fetch a good price, some of the runework would be best sold to the guilds, and in general you do quite well. Well enough that you start to recognise faces in the crowd, people following you.

I think your experiences must be shining through somehow; most of them aren't trying very hard to cheat you, and many of the specific items fetch a remarkably high price- [string of strangely, twos and fives for bargaining. Adding all the half and quarter coins up, both Alfred and Larric come away with enough cash that a dedicated mercenary might think the last week worthwhile. In fact Larric's reaction may be along the lines of "I could buy a house." ninety- eight silver, forty- nine each.]

Larric in particular notices two men in dark forest green cloaks, with hoods up, looking as if they're not that used to wearing long cloaks, and making too much of a fuss of looking nonchalant. Hm?

[Simon_Jester]

IC:

Larric is half-rapt. "I could get business started again. Heavens, I could buy a house!"

Unfortunately for the men in forest green, he's only half-rapt, and notices the men following him. "Wait." He motions the knight and ogre aside quickly, then reaches for his pouch so that he can pantomime doing something with his hands while talking inaudibly. The alchemist murmurs to Sir Alfred and Dirt, "The men in dark cloaks there, I think they're two of the men who hurt Tamarin, but I might be wrong. We should find out, what do you think?"

[Panzersharkcat]

He shoots them a glance and says, "Indeed we should. Let us go to more secluded place and see if they follow. I would not raise potential trouble in so public a place."

[Simon_Jester]

Larric nods, pretending to hand a couple of coins over to Alfred. "Plus, if they're fools enough to follow Dirt into a dark alley, whoever sent them probably won't be surprised if they dawdle- won't be looking for haste in their coming back."

He is agreeable to the plan, although for the reason he's just alluded to, he kind of doubt they'll be able to get the two 'tails' somewhere totally alone. Assuming Dirt's on board with this, we can start heading for a part of town that's a bit quieter at this time of day, if any come to mind.

[Kaelan]

"But will house come with garden?"

Dirt ask's Fifi to keep an eye (leaf?) out on our two interlopers and agrees with Larric and Alfred in mooching down an alleyway to see if they follow. If possible he will try to see if he can pick out how they are armed, given that large weapons tend to be reasonable prominent.

OOC - a bit late but here's Dirt's latest character sheet post XP spend.

Social
Temper 10
Plant Handling 11
Resist Magic 6
Intimidate 7

Fellowship 8
Culture (elf) 8
Culture (orc) 8
Culture (human) 9

Charm 8
Plant Handling 10
Resist persuasion 8

Mental
Logic 12
Artillerist 8
Herbalism 10
Perception 9
Physician 10

Creativity 12
Art (flowers) 8
Musical Inst.
(skull bongos) 12
Surgeon 10

Education 8
Craft (plants) 8
Monstrology 8
Survival 5

Physical
Strength 19
Athletics 14
Axe 19
Brawl 12
Shield 15

Endurance 24
Athletics 18
Resist injury 20
Res. Dis. 18
Survival 16

Agility 12
Athletics 8
Dodge 11
X-bow 12

Forces 2
Fauna 2
Earth 4

Talents 2
Flora 4
Motion 2

[Simon_Jester]

What about Fifi's XP?

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Dale's bit; at some point in his reply, he should have realised that he was on his own, in a place without backup, in a place and with people who have quite a lot to hide from him, and have just tried to bluff him into something.

Politely declining buys a couple of seconds thinking time, during which time he recalls some of the abilities of Valdemiron; the list runs "extract truth, organise, discipline, blackmail, delegate"- not much in there about honour, valour, decency and worth.

What actually happened? Did the chief of the gods make an impossible demand? There were a couple of seconds there when the deputy archpriest definitely showed a fang, considered direct solutions to the problem but in the end considers it too much of a risk, for now.

'That is...disappointing. We could perhaps have achieved more if- where can you be found, if something becomes of importance that you need to be consulted on?'



I don't think there is any plant at all that is more than dimly photo- sensitive; she's an exception to a lot of rules, but Fifi's primary senses are heat and smell. It's not beyond the bounds of biology (I think) that she might be electrosensitive, if there are XP put into developing that, but decent resolution optical waveband eyeballs require too much nerve-work behind them for a plant to manifest. I'd actually forgotten Dirt was that good with that axe, too.

Unfortunately, they're not quite stupid enough to follow two large armed people, one with a plant, and a mage into a dark alley. Close enough to it to look cautiously up it, decide it's not worth the risk and try to double round to the other end, yes.